15 trees get cut down at Pacific Palisades Park

Published 12:07 AM HST Aug 22, 2013

PEARL CITY, Hawaii -

The saws are buzzing, the woodchips are flying, and the trees are coming down at Pacific Palisades Park.

The city says the invasive albizia trees are unsafe, since large limbs are dropping on their own. They can't have that at a city park much less one where students at Palisades Elementary School often spend their recess.

"It's pretty dangerous for us, especially those kids that play around here. I mean, it's good to cut some of the trees but not all the way down," said Pearl City resident Noel Pascual.

But cutting them all the way down is the plan. The city's arborist said that's the only option, as the trees grow larger the problems branch out too. The trees roots are pushing on the retaining wall sometimes even forcing their way through.

"We come out here and inspect this area pretty often and noticed that the size and some of the damage that they are doing on the wall it was essentially time for these trees to go, unfortunately," said Austin Braaten with the city's division of urban forestry.

The trees get shredded and the chips will be used to put nutrients back in the landscape.The project will take about a week and a half to complete.

Copyright 2013 byKITV All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.